Expert physicians in the Birthplace and the Heart Institute at Bridgeport Hospital have teamed up to conduct an important study of pregnancy, obesity, and the heart. If you’re in your first trimester, you can join Bridgeport Hospital experts, and play a part in advancing medical knowledge!

In the wee hours of the night, you wake up with indigestion and a steady pain in your upper abdomen. It quickly gets worse. When morning arrives, it's still there, and in fact, has spread to your back, below your right shoulder. Then nausea sets in. After a few hours, to your relief, the pain and nausea subside—leaving you with a deeper sympathy for your mother and grandfather, because you recognize the symptoms they used to describe: You've inherited the family tendency toward gallstones.

Late in 1895, when Bridgeport Hospital was only about a decade old, a young man came into the State Street office of John Winthrop Wright, MD, in Bridgeport. The youth had traveled all the way from Monroe—a long buggy ride in those days—hoping that the doctor would be able to remove a 22-caliber bullet from his hand.

It can happen to any family—even the healthiest. A sudden illness, an accident, major surgery for a family member, or just the realization that Grandma or Grandpa is getting older—events like these can change your lives in ways you might never have foreseen. When that happens, you might not think about asking for help. You might just think, "We'll manage somehow; we always have." You might not even know about the kinds of help that are available.